Speak Ukulele Reviews

Speak Ukulele Review

As a beginner to this wonderful instrument, I am always on the look out for products, training courses, anything that can help improve my playing, which is sloooowly getting there.

In saying that, I have just downloaded Beatniks famously popular music training course, Speak Ukulele 2 and it is starting to do wonders. This is a downloadable Ukulele training course that lets you use visual and audio flashcards to teach the user to play chords as well as recognize them by ear when played. You can read more about this course on the page I have created by clicking here.

When you download you are brought to an easy and delightful interface with a main menu, and tutorials, four to be precise and they are

The tutorials are excellent and a must watch. At the start an excellent tutorial runs that explains how to use the software. It was extremely helpful and gave me the confidence to start straight away. The interface also includes three main screens which are….

■The GCAE tuner – a tool to help you tune your strings
■The Fretboard audio map – this shows you chords and plays all the notes on the fretboard
■The Main Stage – this is where you can hear the chord, see the name, see the fingering and play the chord. All new features.

The basic Idea of this software is to help you learn to play chords but most importantly recognize them by ear. The play by ear mode is pretty cool which plays the chords first a few times and you have to guess which chords are been played.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are so many great features.

■ You can switch the audio on and off which allows you to play the chords just looking at the fingering.

■ Chord Filtering, allowing you to concentrate and practice on one chord.

■ Create a chord list allowing you to select several chords to play.

■ Auto-play- This allows you to set up a few chords and keep playing with out having to touch your mouse.

There is so much to get into with this software Beatnik has created I could go on and on, and if you have any problems with it, which I suspect you will not, visiting his blog or getting in touch with Beatnik is no problem, as he is very proud of this software which is helping people all over take up and play the Ukulele hoping to be the next Jake Shimabukuro or Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole , just like myself.

This version is a much improved version from Speak Ukulele 1 as Beatnik has listened to his costumers and general feedback and created an invaluable programme. It is a true brilliant product, perfect for beginners and the price at $39.97 is just about right. Will be interesting to see what Beatnik will create next with the Speak Ukulele series. For all ukulele enthusiasts visit beatniks website here for more details on all his Ukulele training programmes and tutorials.